Snowstorm batters southern U.S., disrupting travel, power

A powerful snowstorm swept through southern U.S. states over the weekend, bringing subzero temperatures, heavy snow, and widespread travel disruptions.

The storm comes a week after another major winter system killed more than 100 people and left communities struggling to recover.

North Carolina and neighboring states were hardest hit Saturday, with authorities urging residents to stay off the roads. All of North and South Carolina, parts of Georgia, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, and southern Virginia were under winter storm warnings.

North Carolina reported 750 car crashes Saturday. Snow accumulation reached 14.5 inches (37 cm) in Faust, North Carolina, 12.5 inches in West Critz, Virginia, and more than nine inches in Harrisburg, Tennessee. High winds caused blowing snow in Cape Carteret, prompting warnings of "Treacherous and Potentially Life-Threatening" conditions.

In Gastonia, North Carolina, police released footage showing a train hitting a semi-truck stuck on the tracks. No injuries were reported.

The storm caused more than 1,800 flight cancellations at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, a hub for American Airlines, and more than 600 cancellations at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest. A 300-person crew worked to clear runways and taxiways.

"An explosively deepening coastal cyclone will continue to bring moderate to heavy snow, high winds, and possibly blizzard conditions for the Carolinas," the National Weather Service said Saturday. "An intense surge of arctic air behind the coastal storm will send below freezing temperatures down toward South Florida by Sunday morning."

Davis, West Virginia, recorded the lowest temperature in the lower 48 states Saturday at minus 28°F (minus 33°C). About 156,000 customers were without power early Sunday, mostly in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana.

In North Carolina, the National Park Service closed Outer Banks campgrounds and some beaches, citing threats to oceanfront structures. Mississippi opened 79 shelters and warming centers, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deploying generators to critical sites.

The freezing weather also forced NASA to postpone a fueling test of a 322-foot (98-meter) rocket at Cape Canaveral, delaying a planned manned Moon flyby.